Drawer guide



May 16, 1950 c. w. KOCH 2,508,269

DRAWER GUIDE Filed Aug. 29, 1946 'INVENTORZ CLARENCE W. KOCH TORNEY.

Patented May 16, 1950 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE' DRAWER GUIDE ClarenceW. Koch, St. Louis, Mo.

Application August 29, 1946, Serial No. 693,748

3 Claims.

This invention relates to desks and in its more specific aspects isdirected to a drawer guide for a desk which will compensate for thewarping that takes place in drawers to enable them to freely slide inand out of the desk.

The object of this invention is to provide a desk drawer guide which ispivotally mounted in the well of the desk to enable the drawer to befreely moved in the guide and in which the guide parts can move at rightangles to the longitudinal movement of the drawer to thereby overcomethe binding efiect of a warped drawer in the guide.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a sectional elevational view of a deskincorporating the drawer guide;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a partial perspective view of the drawer guide.

Referring now to the drawings, numeral I designates the body of a deskhaving a drawer 2 therein which is movable in and out of the desk well.A guide 3 is mounted in the desk to facilitate drawer movement.

The guide is composed of two channel members constituting rails 4, 4,each of which is pivoted to the desk by means of a pin 5, only one ofwhich is shown, pins 5 being suitably secured to one of the structuralmembers of the desk. The other member of the drawer guide is anequalizer bar 6 which is disposed between the track members at theirunpivoted ends. Equalizer bar 6 is supported on the rear wall of desk Iin a suitable bracket I provided with a pin 8 extending through andabout which the equalizer bar 6 pivots. Equalizer bar 6 is provided withtangs 9, 9 which extend through slots formed in the ends of rails 4, 4,the shoulders on the bar preventing inward motion of the rails towardeach other and the side walls of the well in which the drawer isreceived limiting the outward movement of rails 4, 4, said equalizeralso maintaining the proper spacing of said rails.

The drawer 2 is equipped with a bracket I0 provided with rollers II (onenot shown) which are preferably anti-friction bearings that travel inrails 4, 4. The lower portion of the drawer is supported on rollers I2(only one of which is shown) each of which is rotatably supported in abracket I3 suitably secured to the side walls of the desk well. Thebottom edge of the side walls of the drawer rests upon the rollers IIand this lower edge may be suitably reenforced to prevent wear. Whendrawer 2 is being withdrawn from the desk well, it pivots about rollersI2, causing roller I to bear against the upper edge of rails 4, 4. Astop in the form of pins l4 (only one of which is shown) secured in eachof the rails 4, 4 is engaged by rollers I I to prevent accidentalwithdrawal of the desk drawer although the drawer may be removed fromthe desk in a manner well known in the art.

When desk drawers are operated in guides that are rigidly secured to thewalls of the desk, they will frequently stick when sliding them alongthe guide because of drawer distortion or warping. In view of thetendency of presently available woods to excessively warp, the bindingand sticking of the drawer in rails 4, t becomes increasingly greaterwhen the rails are rigidly mounted in the desk well. This sticking andbinding in the rails 4, 4 is prevented by having them pivoted on pins 5with equalizer bar 6 loosely associated with the unpivoted ends of therails to permit vertical motion of the rails relative to the well of thedesk and to each other. When the drawer is moved along rails 4, 4, theyadjust themselves to the particular drawer shape, thereby equalizing thepressure on each rail and preventing said sticking and binding to enablea free and easy movement of the drawer along the rails.

Having fully described my invention, that which I claim as novel anddesire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a desk, a drawer guide comprising a pair of longitudinallyextended rails and an equalizer bar disposed between said rails at oneend of said pair of rails; means to pivot the other end of said pair ofrails to the desk; and means to pivot said equalizer bar to the desk,said equalizer and rails adapted to pivot relative to each other when adesk drawer is moved along said guide.

2. A desk drawer guide comprising two side rails; means to pivot one endof each of said rails to the desk; an equalizer bar disposed between theunpivoted ends of said rails; means to pivot said equalizer to the desk;and a drawer longitudinally movable along said rails, said drawerpivoting said rails and equalizer about their respective pivoting meansas it moves along said rails to equalize the drawer pressure on saidrails to thereby facilitate movement of said drawer in the guide.

3. In a desk, a drawer guide comprising a pair of rails, means pivotingeach rail at one end thereof to the desk, an equalizer bar connectedbetween the other ends of said rails, means pivotally supporting saidequalizer bar on said desk at a point between said rails, the connectionbetween said rails and said equalizer bar permitting 3 4 relative motionbetween these parts; and a drawer longitudinally movable along saidguide, said UNITED STATES PATENTS rails and said bar pivoting relativeto each other Number Name Date as said drawer moves along said guide.697,471 Gelcke 15, 1902 CLARENCE C 5 1,985,550 Raggio Dec. 25, 19342,179,138 Stickley NOV. 7, 1939 REFERENCES CITED 2,223,071 Koch NOV. 26,1940 The following references are of record in the file of this patent;

